shoeblack

American

[shoo-blak] / ˈʃuˌblæk /

noun

bootblack.

shoeblack British

/ ˈʃuːˌblæk /

noun

(esp formerly) a person who shines boots and shoes

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of shoeblack

First recorded in 1745–55; shoe + black

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

When the shoeblack part of the affair is over and done with, the grammar, which was made for schoolmarms in male garb, and the shining rhetoric, what remains?

From Project Gutenberg

Had he lived longer, and had he enjoyed that competence which a prudent shoeblack seldom fails to enjoy, Spenser would have been second in fame to Shakespeare only.

From Project Gutenberg

I recollect shoeblacks formerly at the corner of almost every street, especially in great thoroughfares.

From Project Gutenberg

The child for friends he sad did lack, They said he was but a shoeblack, Kind hearted man the poor child bore, To a soft cot in back of store.

From Project Gutenberg

Several shoeblacks very anxious to black my boots, which, as I tell them, would be "painting the lily."

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023